THE PINKI VIEW: Thursday, October 3, Pro Vita

Woke up to sunshine, however brief, and the mud isn't as bad. Then we had snow flurries that didn't stick.

We had dish duty for all three meals today.

Went up to the village to visit the school (combined 4,5,6 year olds in a K class). That is not typical, but this village is too tiny to have three classes. Eleven of the twelve students were from Pro Vita. They were doing a unit on family, and most had no family. They were expected to sit quietly while they took turns reciting. They recited prayers and their version of the Pledge of Allegiance, and sang what sounded like a national anthem. Very "Little House on the Prairie". One little 4 year old fell asleep while quietly waiting her turn.

Teacher and student

Just like our Kinders they have either a right hand or a left, and one little guy is praying

The primary school in Valea Screzii

They sang "When You're Happy and You Know It" in Romanian and we sang "Old MacDonald" in English. After we left I asked Kayla if that was just showing off for us or if that was the way the class was always conducted. She replied that it was typical. Can you imagine our Kinders sitting for an hour and a half like that?

Lunch today was two kinds of cabbage slaw and pasta salad and potato salad. We call it C & C -- cabbage and carbs. Every meal is fairly tasty, but not well balanced or much variety. Dishes again after lunch. Went up to the wood shop to see where the guys have been working. Took pictures of the on-site woodworker's projects and more of the grounds. Came back to our house to sew the iPhone cases before our language lesson. Some went up to help with food prep at the Big Kitchen where they cook for everybody (except us). That's probably over 100 people. Others were preparing English learning materials for the girls' houses.

In the wood shop

This is how the woodworker spends his time

Then our Romanian class. The lessons are hilarious since nobody expects to use much Romanian when we leave here and it's hard to take it too seriously. When we do try our pleases, thank yous, and good mornings, we aren't usually understood anyway! But overall I think we were better behaved today than Tuesday.